PLASMA BALLON
One intriguing prospect is a propellant
less propulsion concept called as plasma sail. The concept was developed by
Robert Winglee, a scientist at the University
of Washington in Seattle. This Mini-Magnetosphere Plasma
Propulsion, or M2P2 for short, takes advantage of the natural environment of
space. M2P2 technology creates a huge magnetic bubble around an interplanetary
craft. In deploying the mini-magnetosphere, this plasma "balloon"
interacts with high-speed ionized particles shed by the Sun which, in turn,
push the vehicle through space. Plasma
sail technologies are faster
than
ion and chemical propulsion and therefore could cut conventional trip times to
the outer planets in half.
AEROCAPTURE
Aerocapture technology is a flight
maneuver that inserts a spacecraft into orbit around a planet or moon by using
the destination's atmosphere like a "brake." The dense atmosphere
creates friction, which is used to slow down a craft, transferring the energy
associated with the vehicle's high speed into heat. Therefore this approach
requires significant thermal protection. There is no need for any on-board
propulsion. The main advantage of aero capture is reduced mass and use of a
smaller, less-expensive launcher. This technique gets a vehicle to a
destination quickly, hastening start-up of science operations.
Aerocapture
is part of a unique family of "aero assist" technologies being
developed by NASA for science missions to any planetary body with an
appreciable atmosphere. These destinations could include Mars, Venus and
Saturn's moon Titan, along with the outer planets.
ANTIGRAVITY PROPULSION
An 'antigravity' propulsion system
was proposed at the Space Technology and Applications International Forum
(STAIF) in Albuquerque
on February 14 by Dr. Franklin Felber. His new exact solution to Einstein's
gravitational field equation gives hope to space enthusiasts that it might be
possible to accelerate space craft to speeds approaching that of light without
crushing the contents of the craft
BEAM POWERED PROPULSION
1) Star wisp
Constructing
a spacecraft capable of traveling interstellar distance is not easy. Even the
launching of one-way, fly by probe to the nearest star system is a major
undertaking. There have been many concepts published for attaining the
interstellar transport. One such concept is called star wisp. Star wisp is an
ultra low mass interstellar probe, which is propelled by high power microwave
antennae through beam powered propulsion. The propulsion system consists of a
20 gigawatt microwave beam from the solar powered satellite in orbit around the
earth. So it doesn’t carry any propulsion system onboard. It was proposed by
Robert l forward, scientist and author, in 1985. Accelerating a Star wisp of
115 g’s using 10 billion watt microwave beam would take it to one-fifth of the
speed of light within days which is out of anybody’s imagination.
Star wisp probe consist of a mesh whish is
made up of extremely fine wires about one kilometer across. The wires are
placed apart at a distance equal to the wavelength of the microwaves that will
be used to push it. The wires would have nanoscale computer circuitry, sensors,
microwave power collection systems and microwave radio transmitters fabricated
on the wire surfaces, giving the probe data collection and transmission
capability.
Since light weight is the key
feature of star wisp, special techniques are used for fabrication. One proposed
method would be to "paint" the probe and its circuitry onto an
enormous sheet of plastic which degrades when exposed to ultraviolet light, and
then wait for the sheet to evaporate away under the assault of solar UV after
it has been deployed in space.
SPACE DRIVE
1) Warp drive
Warp drive (also known as Hyper drive) is a
technology that allows space travel at faster-than-light speeds. This is
accomplished by generating warp fields to form a subspace bubble that envelops
the starship, distorting the local space time continuum and moving the starship
at velocities that exceed the speed of light. These velocities are referred to
as warp factors. Warp drive is the most common form of interstellar propulsion
used in the Milky Way Galaxy, making interstellar exploration, commerce and
warfare possible.
24th century Federation warp engines
are fueled by the reaction of matter (deuterium) and antimatter (ant deuterium),
mediated through an assembly of dilithium crystals, which are non reactive with
antimatter when subjected to high-frequency electromagnetic fields. This
reaction produces highly energetic plasma, called electro-plasma or warp
plasma, which is channeled by plasma conduits through the electro-plasma system
(EPS). The electro-plasma is funneled by plasma injectors into a series of warp
field coils, usually located in remote warp nacelles. These coils are composed
of verterium cortenide and generate the warp field
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